Arts & Culture

A view of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia in April 2023.

National Park Service studying potential Heritage Area centered around the Great Dismal Swamp

Katherine Hafner

Federal officials are hosting several virtual public meetings this week about the concept, covering communities in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

Nick and Mary Mathews, natives of Greece, opened a lunch counter in Yorktown in 1944 that became Nick's Seafood Pavilion. The restaurant grew into a household name around Virginia for its fine seafood and elaborate decor. The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown has an exhibit celebrating the lives of the late Yorktown philanthropists.

Arts & Culture

Yorktown museum exhibit honors the legacy and philanthropy of Nick and Mary Mathews

Susan Smigielski Acker

The "Patrons & Patriots" exhibition includes photos, artifacts and personal items of the beloved couple that owned the iconic Nick's Seafood Pavilion and donated land and money to Yorktown.

A scene from "Pride & Prejudice & Dragons," an immersive theater experience at the Hermitage Museum & Gardens in partnership with Roūge Theater Reinvented. The show combines the Jane Austen classic elements with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The annual immersive production is sold out.

Arts & Culture

Pride and Prejudice and Dragons? Yes, at Norfolk's Hermitage Museum & Gardens

Vicki L. Friedman

The Hermitage has hosted an immersive theater show for several years, and this year's mashup of Pride & Prejudice and Dungeons & Dragons opens Friday. All shows are sold out.

Comedian James "Murr" Murray, known for his work on the show "Impractical Joker," will perform in Williamsburg Wednesday night as part of the Ampersand International Arts Festival.

Arts & Culture

Ampersand Fest bringing in rappers, artists, dancers to Williamsburg this week

Kate Nowak

Comedian James "Murr" Murray, Rev Run of Run DMC headline the annual arts festival. Events will be held around the city and the campus of W&M

The former Chevra T’helim synagogue in Portsmouth is now the Jewish Museum & Cultural Center. It's programming includes a lecture series that starts March 16.

Arts & Culture

Portsmouth synagogue turned museum keeps local Jewish culture alive

Vicki L. Friedman

The Jewish Museum and Cultural Center hasn't been a synagogue in 40 years but has community programming year-round. Its lecture series continues Sunday.

A new exhibition at the Barry Art Museum at Old Dominion features nearly 200 Barbie dolls and celebrates her evolution over 65 years.

Arts & Culture

Barbie is 'out of the box' at new show at the Barry Art Museum

Susan Smigielski Acker

The Barry's 'Out of the Box' retrospective of the history and fashion of Barbie includes nearly 200 dolls and life-size Dreamhouses.

Henry Ossawa Tanner, "The Banjo Lesson," 1893, oil on canvas. The famous painting is on display at the Hampton University Museum.

Arts & Culture

The Hampton University Museum reopens after renovation, a focus on the old and new

Vicki L. Friedman

The Hampton U. museum is the country's oldest African American museum and closed for a year to expand for its extensive African, Native and African American collections.